COPY FOR MRS. NANCY C. RUSSELL October 2, 1929. Mr. Chas. A. Beil, Glacier Park, Montana. Dear Charlie: Thank you for your letters of September 25th and 27th. I am sorry to hear you had so many fire scares at Glacier and am particularly pleased to learn that Mrs. Russell did not lose her Lodge. I hope you will keep up your good work and develop into the artist we all expect, which only comes from continual application and the surmounting of any discouragement. I think you are to be congratulated in having Mrs. Russell’s interest and cooperation. Thank you for the photograph showing you modelling Two Gun White Calf. Would it be possible for you to get some Indian souvenir belonging to him for my cabin, such as a pipe, good beadwork, or something else? Have you disposed of the head you made of him? If not, what do you want for it. I am glad to hear you are going to make bronzes of some of your subjects. If you have available photographs of your work please send them on. Regarding my log cabin room, this will be a room about 20 x 20 feet. There will be two doors of the average width at the extreme east and west sides of the south wall. Between these two doors will be bookcases running up about five feet, in the center of which I expect to have a niche, recessed and lighted, to hold the model you made for me. I will try to get the effect of looking through a window at the scene this model represents. Above the book cases will be wall spaces containing heads and pictures, running to the roof, which will be peaked and high, with two heavy beams running across each side of the fireplace. The west wall and east wall will run about 6’6” high, at which point they will connect with the roof. In the center of the west wall will be a fairly large window; in the center of the north wall, the same. The east and south walls will have no windows, the fireplace being in the center of the east wall. The shell of the fireplace is already built. It will be five feet wide, four feet high and about two feet deep. The stone will only run up as high as the lintel, which will be about five feet eight. I have been successful in obtaining an oak beam about 10”x10” by Mr. Chas. A. Beil -2- October 2, 1929. 9 feet, which I will use as a lintel or mantel above the fire- place. This beam was originally the topsail sheet bitt of the Frigate Constitution, better known as “Old Ironsides”. I think this will make an interesting and historic piece. Above the lintel I will have the logs running parallel to the floor, the same as the rest of the cabin, and not carry the stone work higher, as is usually done. What I am particularly interested in at present, is a design for the stonework of the fireplace. I will want this rough enough to be in keeping with a primitive cabin, and yet not too crude. I expect to use as much of the wall space as possible for pictures and suitable souvenirs and heads. In the fireplace I will have a crane and all the old fashioned cooking utensils that went with a pioneer cabin and were used by the families in preparing their meals. For a cupboard, I expect to have at one side of the fireplace, a chuck box from an old chuck wagon, in which I will keep my tin dishes and provisions, and which will also serve as an emergency table when I open the cover. I will have an old fashioned wood box built the other side of the fireplace. For my central lighting fixture, high in the ceiling, I will have an ox yoke, from which will be suspended at the bottom of each bow, an old fashioned lantern lighted with an electric bulb. In the northwest corner I will have a single bunk; in front of the north window will be a table. I am also interested in any available ideas for old fashioned cooking implements, pots, pan, etc, which I can no doubt get from antique shops in New England, where this method of cook- ing prevailed years ago. Also, I am looking for any suitable Indian souvenirs, such as blankets, beaded work, etc. which will add color to the room and at the same time give a slight suggestion of Indian equip- ment that existed in the primitive days. If you can locate any suitable Indian souvenirs such as excellent illustrations of blan- kets, beaded work or pipes I would like to have you send them on for approval. However, I would appreciate your cooperation in seeing that they are unusually well selected and that I get an attractive price on them. One of the things I will have to guard against is not to crowd the cabin with too many things, but I would like some well selected splendid specimens. If you have anything sent on, do it on approval so I can feel free to return anything I do not want to keep. If you can find pieces that have some historical/ ^Significance^ such as a pipe owned by Two Gun White Calf or some other prominent individual this would be preferable. What I am trying to do is to dedicate a room to pioneer frontier settlers of America, and in it have something pertaining to the hunter, the trapper, fisherman, lumberman, prospector, ranchman and other frontier representatives who opened up our Transcript was incomplete third page is as follows: Mr. Chas. A. Beil -3- Oct. 2, 1929 wild spaces. I am most anxious to give a prominent place to my Russell water colors. Any cooperation you can give me will be greatly appreciated. With best regards, I am Yours very truly, EEQ:BBB [Transcript by Lauren B. Gerfen. Author Ernest E. Quantrell, 2012-10-04]